Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I have not been in this body very long, but I have quickly learned that the titles we give bills often come out of ``Alice in Wonderland.'' The title of this bill is ``Protecting Commerce.'' The way I read this bill, it is protecting those gun dealers who are engaged in wrong-doing.
I am very disappointed that this bill is even on the floor. I had an amendment proposed that I took to the Committee on Rules the other day; and unfortunately, they did not approve it. I represent an area that was recently ravaged just last fall by a sniper. This body at that time was taking up this legislation and, in deference to the victims' families, took this legislation off the floor. But by taking this up today, we are adding insult to injury to the victims and the families of those victims. We are rubbing salt in their wounds because many of the families of those victims decided to go to court. They went to court. They took their case to court against a gun dealer whose activities over many years had shown a pattern of negligence that could very well have contributed to the suffering in their families. And this legislation which was taken off the floor in deference to those victims will now deny them their fair day in court. They are not going to get a fair hearing. And I find this decision of this body to proceed on this to be an insult, not just to those families, but really to decency and justice in the United States.
I had an amendment that would have addressed an issue that was adopted in the middle of the night a couple of months ago as part of the 2003 omnibus appropriations bill. At that time we exempted the ATF from requirements that all other Federal agencies are subject to under the Freedom of Information Act to get the information collected with the ATF with respect to those gun dealers who are engaged actively in selling to the criminal market. Why do we want to hide that information from the American people? But we did this in the middle of the night.
And so I had an amendment proposed to reinstate the ability of the American people to have access to that information. The committee denied us that opportunity. I think we should have had a fair debate on that question. This bill protects gun dealers who are engaged in wrong doing. It is unfair to all those gun dealers and manufacturers out there who are playing by the rules. It is unfair to them because it taints them with the wrong-doing of a few. And what this bill does is give protection, not to those who are engaged in the fair dealing in guns. What this does is protect those who are engaged in wrong-doing, those who are engaged in selling mostly to the criminal market, and we have already provided them some additional protection by denying the American people access about who they are. And now they are further shielding them from the justice that American families and the victims are due in this great country. I am sorry we are carving out a special exception for these wrong-doers, and I urge the body to reject this legislation.